Friends, family and food occupied much of our time this long weekend. I did get out, briefly, to our local patch of recovering Everglades and was able to capture a couple of studies in black, gray and white.

I also worked on a Web page that will track the nesting of the local pair of Bald Eagles. There is concern that the birds have chosen a nest site very near a major thoroughfare in an area very close to dense housing developments. A local Middle School science class has taken on a project to study the effects of traffic density on the eagles’ behavior, and I hope that this page may serve as a resource for them.

This Loggerhead Shrike posed perfectly for my long lens:

And I captured this Blue-gray Gnatcatcher at just the right moment as it hover-gleaned atop a small pond cypress tree:

To complete a trio of “Shades of Gray,” I must encore this mockingbird photo taken a month ago at almost the same location as the shrike:

A two-toned Anhinga soared overhead in lazy circles (click image for more views):Adding a bit of color (three, actually), this Tricolored Heron eyed me warily before taking flight (click on image for more views):

For a touch of gold, we visited our local Bald Eagle nest. Again, I missed catching one on the nest by a minute or so, but the other member of the pair was standing guard in a nearby Australian Pine:

Close-up of Bald Eagle’s head:

This Killdeer, at Chapel Trail Nature Center, added a bit more color:

With our non-birding guests, we visited Butterfly World, in Coral Springs. It is quite a remarkable place, featuring not only butterflies from around the world, but also live demonstrations of their life cycles, and aviaries with exotic birds.

Green Violetear (yes,that is the new spelling) at Butterfly World:

Conure “true love”:

An outrageously colorful finch at Butterfly World:

One Response to “Thanksgiving Weekend Palette”

Janine Says:
December 3rd, 2008 at 6:25 pm
The eagle page is really cool. I will enjoy following their progress.
Great shot of the gnatcatcher. Those things are notoriously difficult to photograph.